Tag Archives: business

Korea gives loan to Azerbaijan’s Socar

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — South Korea’s state Export-Import bank EximBank has given Azerbaijan’s Socar a $500m loan to build a carbamide plant in Sumgait near Baku. Carbamide, also known as urea, is a chemical used either as a fertiliser or in the plastics industry. South Korea will view the loan as a way of extending relations between the two countries. The EximBank loan covers around two- third of the cost of the plant which will come online in 2018. South Korea’s Samsung Engineering is the main contractor.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)f

Korea gives loan to Azerbaijan’s Socar

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)f

Azerbaijan wants to increase hazelnut growth

JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan wants to nearly triple the size of the area it has growing hazelnuts, media reported quoting officials. Azerbaijan’s economy has shrunk this year because of its over-dependence on oil and gas exports. The government has now said that it wants to diversify the economy and part of this process is to push agriculture.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakhstan delivers wheat to Vietnam

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan delivered its first batch of wheat to Vietnam via train to a Chinese port and then by cargo ship to Ho Chi Minh city on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, media reported quoting a Kazakh railway executive. The importance of the opening up of this route is the successful use of the Kazakhstan- China railway which can effectively link Kazakhstan to East Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakhstan signs deal with DP World

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The UAE’s DP World signed a deal to develop a special economic zone in Aktau, western Kazakhstan. The deal was signed during a trip to Dubai by Kazakh businessmen and government officials lead by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. DP World is one of the largest port operators in the world. Aktau is Kazakhstan’s main Caspian Sea port.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

China to build solar plant in Uzbekistan

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology, a Chinese company, won a tender at the end of 2016 to build a solar panel field in southern Uzbekistan, state-run Uzbekenergo told the Trend news agency. Uzbekistan has been looking to boost its renewable energy capacity and has been increasingly turning to solar power.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

China eyes major purchase on Georgian coast

TBILISI, JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — China underlined its ambitions to boost its presence in the South Caucasus by signing a deal with the Georgian government that could lead it to buying up 75% of the Poti Special Industrial Zone on the Black Sea coast.

Poti is the main entry and exit points into and out of Georgia for goods. It is majority owned by APM, a unit of Maersk Group.

Owning a majority stake in the Poti Special Industrial Zone would be a massive boost for China and would give it a major presence on the Black Sea for the first time.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Georgian government and CEFC China Energy Company Limited at a ceremony in Tbilisi attended by Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

Georgian media spun the deal as part of China’s One Belt, One Road project which aims to revive the Silk Road across Central Asia between China and Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Power exports to run alongside TAPI, say Turkmen officials

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said it wanted to build an electricity transmission line alongside the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that, if it all goes to plan, will pump Turkmen gas to Pakistan and India, across Afghanistan, potentially challenging the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 project which will supply Pakistan with electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan has been building gas-fuelled power stations and wants to become known for its electricity, and gas, exports.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Petrol prices rise in Azerbaijan

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, Socar, said that it was going to raise the price it charges consumers for high octane Super Euro 98 petrol to 1.05 manat per litre from 0.95 manat per litre. Azerbaijan imports Super Euro 98 petrol. The sliding value of the manat versus the US dollar means that the cost of imports has increased.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Sweden’s Telia accuses Tajikistan of slapping it with bogus tax bill

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Telia Company, the Swedish telecoms company, accused the Tajik government of posting a bogus tax claim against its Tajikistan-based subsidiary Tcell.

In a statement, the head of Telia’s Eurasia division, Emil Nilsson, said that the tax authorities in Tajikistan had handed Tcell a claim for May 2015 to June 2016 of 155m somoni ($19.6m) — more than the company’s entire revenue for 2015.

“We are very concerned with the situation which we believe is totally unacceptable,” Mr Nilsson said.

Central Asia governments have previously tried to raise revenue by slapping large fines for tax violations on Western companies. And this is exactly what Telia, in its abrupt statement, said was the scenario currently playing out with the Tajik authorities.

“The Tajik operator Tcell has appealed what is considered to be an illegal tax claim,” it said in the statement entitled ‘Telia appeals illegal tax claims in Tajikistan’. “The authorities in Tajikistan are basing their tax claim on revenue that Tcell has never generated, so called ‘un- realised revenue’.”

The Tajik authorities may feel that Tcell is vulnerable. Telia is trying to offload its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan was uncovered that tarnished Telia’s global image and damaged Central Asia’s reputation for governance.

In September 2016, Telia agreed to sell its 60% stake in Tcell to the Aga Khan for $39m. The Aga Khan already owns 40% of the company.

In its statement, Telia said that it had expected the deal to be signed off by the Tajik authorities by the end of 2016. This has been delayed, though, without clear reason, Telia said.

The Tajik authorities have not commented on either the tax-linked fine or the delay in granting permission for Aga Khan to buy Telia’s stake in Tcell.

Tajikistan’s economy has been hit hard by a recession in Russia, making finding potential buyers for Tcell difficult.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)